Promotional posterDateJanuary 22, 1995CityVenueAttendance10,000(s)30 Men, 1 Winner, Something's Gotta Give!Pay-per-view chronology← PreviousNext →chronology← PreviousNext →Royal Rumble (1995) was the eighth annual (PPV) produced by the (WWF, now WWE). It took place on January 22, 1995, in the located in.The event featured five matches based on scripted storylines, and the results were predetermined by the WWF. The main event was the, which won after entering first and outlasting the 29 other wrestlers for the first time in WWF history. The event also featured a match for the, when defended the title against. The match was stopped when several other wrestlers interfered and the referee lost control of the match. Two other title matches took place; won the from, and and won the final match in a tournament that determined the new.Several storylines from Royal Rumble 1995 were carried over to, the WWF's next pay-per-view.
Attacked Hall of Famer, who was sitting in the crowd; this set up a match between the two at WrestleMania. Was at ringside and was supposed to accompany the winner of the Royal Rumble match to his WWF World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania.
Although Shawn Michaels won the match, Anderson came to the ring at WrestleMania with Diesel. 's feud with 's also escalated, as DiBiase's men stole the urn that was said to give The Undertaker his power.
Jarrett and Ramon continued to feud for several months, and Bret Hart targeted because of Backlund's interference in the WWF World Heavyweight Championship match. Contents.Production Background The is an annual pay-per-view, produced every January by the (WWF, now WWE) since 1988. It is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with, and, later dubbed the 'Big Four'. It is named after the, a modified in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time.
The match generally features 30 wrestlers. Traditionally, the winner of the match earns a match at that year's WrestleMania. For 1995, the winner earned a match for the at. 1995 was the eighth event in the Royal Rumble chronology. Storylines The card consisted of five matches.
The matches resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed, or to build tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWF's writers, with storylines produced on their weekly television show,.The storyline behind the match began in 1994, when was feuding with his brother. After Owen was unable to win the title, he helped win the belt from Bret at. Three days after Survivor Series, Diesel faced Backlund and won the title belt. He agreed to grant a title shot to Bret Hart, who, like Diesel, was also a.
As.Also at Survivor Series 1994, and had an argument after Michaels accidentally kicked Diesel in the face. Although the pair held the together, Diesel said that he did not want to team with Michaels any longer. The title was vacated, and the WWF held a tournament to determine the new champions.
During the tournament, were forced to withdraw when was injured in a rodeo accident. As a result, the and took their place. The Gunns requested that they get a title shot after the tournament when Bart had recovered. The 1–2–3 Kid and Holly advanced to the finals, as did 's team of. The match to determine the new champions was scheduled to take place at the Royal Rumble.had been feuding with DiBiase's since his return to the WWF from an injury in August 1994.
During the match between The Undertaker and at Survivor Series 1994, one of DiBiase's wrestlers, interfered in the match by attacking The Undertaker. The feud between The Undertaker and Schyster escalated when Schyster performed a series of in which he repossessed such items as tombstones and burial plots from people he claimed had not paid their taxes before dying. During the feud, Schyster was escorted to the ring for his matches by a group of hooded.The feud between and began in late 1994 when Jarrett challenged Ramon for Ramon's. They faced each other several times, but Jarrett was unable to win the belt.
Jarrett, who portrayed an aspiring country music star, was accompanied to the ring by, who often interfered in matches on Jarrett's behalf.Although no major feuds were featured in the Royal Rumble match, star was in attendance at ringside. It was announced that she would accompany the winner of the match during his WWF World Heavyweight Championship title shot at. Event Other on-screen personnel Role:Name:(Spanish)Ed Trucco (Spanish)InterviewerStephanie WiandPrior to the live pay-per-view broadcast, defeated in a.In the first televised match, Razor Ramon defended his WWF Intercontinental Championship against Jeff Jarrett, who was accompanied by The Roadie. Ramon used his strength to dominate the opening of the match. Jarrett gained the momentum with a series of and then choked Ramon with a.
Ramon ran at Jarrett but was thrown over the top rope. He hit his knee when he landed, and The Roadie then hit Ramon from behind in the knee. Ramon was unable to return to the ring, so Jarrett was awarded the match via.
Because the championship cannot change hands on a countout, Jarrett challenged Ramon to continue the match. Ramon agreed and nearly pinned Jarrett twice. Jarrett applied the to apply pressure to Ramon's injured knee. Ramon escaped the hold and attempted to perform the. He collapsed under Jarrett's weight, however, and Jarrett pinned him to win the title.
Lost to but gained revenge by stealing The Undertaker's urn.The Undertaker faced Irwin R. Schyster in the next match. The Undertaker gained the advantage at the beginning and held it until Ted DiBiase called his druids to the ring. When The Undertaker attempted to attack Schyster from the top rope, the druids shook the ropes and caused him to fall. Schyster performed a to knock The Undertaker out of the ring, where he and the druids attacked The Undertaker.
When the match returned to the ring, Schyster was in control. Both men got knocked down, however, and a druid snuck into the ring and rolled Schyster on top of The Undertaker for a attempt. The Undertaker kicked out and attempted to perform the.
A druid interfered to prevent the move, but The Undertaker performed a on Schyster to gain the pinfall victory. After the match, Ted DiBiase called out Corporation member to help Schyster attack The Undertaker and steal the urn, which was said to be the source of The Undertaker's power.The WWF World Heavyweight Championship match was next, in which Diesel defended the title against Bret Hart.
Diesel began the match by clotheslining Hart, but Hart gained the advantage by focusing on injuring Diesel's knee. He performed the figure four leglock twice before attacking Diesel outside the ring. Diesel regained the advantage by using his size and strength to throw Hart and perform power moves to wear him down. Hart tied Diesel's legs to the ring post with a piece of tape and kicked him repeatedly. Diesel recovered and performed the power bomb on Hart. Before the referee could count the pinfall, Shawn Michaels ran to the ring and attacked Diesel. The referee ordered the match to continue, and the match went back and forth until Hart used the submission hold to place pressure on Diesel's injured leg.
Owen Hart interfered by attacking Bret, but the match was ordered to continue. Bret Hart and Diesel brawled until Bret rolled Diesel up for a pinfall. The referee was knocked unconscious, and Michaels, Jarrett, and The Roadie came to the ring to attack Diesel. Meanwhile, Owen Hart and Bob Backlund attacked Bret Hart. Because the referee could not control the match, it was declared a and Diesel retained his championship. Attacked football star after losing his match.Bob Holly and the 1–2–3 Kid faced Bam Bam Bigelow and Tatanka next in the final match of the WWF Tag Team Championship tournament.
Tatanka began the match by using his strength against Holly, but Holly soon turned the match around by performing a throw. Bigelow used his strength against his opponents, but the 1–2–3 Kid performed a hurricanrana on him as well. Bigelow regained the advantage by kicking the Kid in the back of the head and controlled the match until the Kid threw him out of the ring. Bigelow and Tatanka turned the match around again, using power moves to wear down their opponents.
At one point, Bigelow held the Kid for Tatanka to attack, but Tatanka accidentally hit Bigelow instead. The match ended in a similar manner, as Tatanka knocked Bigelow off the top rope when Bigelow attempted to perform a. The 1–2–3 Kid pinned Bigelow to win the match and the WWF Tag Team Championship. After the match, the crowd heckled Bigelow. He responded by pushing retired player, who was at ring side, laughing about Bigelow's loss.In the main event, Shawn Michaels was the first entrant in the Royal Rumble match, while Davey Boy Smith was the second participant. Every 60 seconds, another wrestler entered the match. As Owen Hart made his way to the ring, he was attacked by his brother Bret.
As a result of the attack, Owen was quickly eliminated from the match when Smith, his brother-in-law, threw him out of the ring. And, the two biggest competitors in the match, fought until Mabel eliminated Bundy. Then entered the match and eliminated Mabel. Bret Hart returned later and attacked Bob Backlund as Backlund was about to enter the match.
This enabled Luger to eliminate Backlund quickly, after which Backlund and Bret continued to fight. The final four participants remaining in the ring were Michaels, Smith, Luger,. Luger attacked Crush but was eliminated by Michaels. Crush then convinced Michaels to work with him but then turned on Michaels by attacking him.
Michaels scratched Crush's eyes, which enabled Smith to eliminate Crush. Michaels and Smith, the first two entrants, were the last two wrestlers remaining. Smith threw Michaels over the top rope and began to celebrate.
Michaels, who had only touched the floor with one foot, was not eliminated from the match, however. He attacked Smith from behind and threw him out of the ring to become the first wrestler to win the Royal Rumble after entering first. Michaels celebrated in the ring with Pamela Anderson. Reception The event was attended by 10,000 fans, which is approximately the maximum capacity of the USF Sun Dome. This attendance figure was down from the previous year's attendance of 14,500, but higher than the following year, when 9,600 people attended. From the ticket sales, the WWF gained $140,000; again, this was lower than in 1994 but higher than in 1996.
The pay-per-view buyrate of 1.0, however, was higher than 1994's 0.9 figure but lower than 1996's buyrate of 1.1.Former WWE wrestler has stated that Michaels's win, in which he was the first wrestler to enter the ring in the #1 position and win the match, is his favorite ending to a Royal Rumble match. Reviewing the event for Online Onslaught, columnist Adam Gutschmidt evaluated the event as acceptable but not exceptional. He found the Royal Rumble match to be the best part of the show, although he claimed that the WWF's switch to having wrestlers enter every 60 seconds hurt the match.
He also found the inconclusive ending to the WWF World Heavyweight Championship match frustrating and rated the match between The Undertaker and Irwin R. Schyster as a 'dud'. The event has also been rated by customers at Amazon.com, who have given the event four and a half out of five stars.
Art O'Donnell, writer of the website, has inducted the Rumble match into the site's list of 'the very worst in pro wrestling'. He cites that most of the Royal Rumble participants' gimmicks and the lack of main event wrestlers (such as, and The Undertaker) as his reasons for including the match in the list.Royal Rumble 1995 was released on in North America by on March 8, 1995. It was released in the United Kingdom in VHS format on May 8, 1995. The event, packaged together with Royal Rumble 1996, was also released on in the United Kingdom as part of the line on April 17, 2006. On October 15, 2007, WWE released the event in the United Kingdom as part of the Royal Rumble Complete Anthology DVD set.
Aftermath The day after Royal Rumble, the 1–2–3 Kid and Bob Holly faced The Smoking Gunns. The Gunns won the match and the WWF Tag Team Championship.
By losing the belts after one day, the Kid and Holly tied what was at that time the record for the shortest tag team title reign in WWF history. Lost his match at WrestleMania but reunited with former friend.Razor Ramon faced Jeff Jarrett at WrestleMania XI in a rematch for the WWF Intercontinental Championship. To counteract The Roadie's interference, Ramon was accompanied by his friend the 1–2–3 Kid. Ramon won the match by but did not win the title. On May 19, 1995, Ramon defeated Jarrett in a to regain the championship, but Jarrett won the belt back three days later.The Undertaker faced King Kong Bundy at WrestleMania XI. Although The Undertaker won the match, another member of DiBiase's Corporation, took possession of the urn and melted it down into a necklace. The Undertaker defeated Kama in dark matches at.
They faced each other in a at, which The Undertaker won to end the feud.Bret Hart wrestled an against Bob Backlund at WrestleMania. Hart won the match after the referee determined that Backlund had conceded defeat. Bret's feud with Owen was not featured again, but the two did not reunite until they formed in 1997 with brothers-in law Davey Boy Smith and.Despite Michaels winning the right to be escorted by Pamela Anderson to his WWF World Heavyweight Championship match against Diesel at WrestleMania, Anderson came to the ring with Diesel instead. Michaels's bodyguard, attempted to interfere on Michaels's behalf but ultimately helped Diesel retain the title.
Diesel offered Michaels a rematch, and Michaels told Sid that he would not be needed in the upcoming match. Upset with Michaels, Sid attacked Michaels until Diesel came to Michaels's rescue. Diesel and Michaels became allies once again and teamed up to win the WWF Tag Team Championship later that year.Bam Bam Bigelow challenged Lawrence Taylor to a match, which Taylor accepted after initially refusing.
Diesel trained Taylor, who beat Bigelow at WrestleMania XI. Embarrassed, Bigelow challenged Diesel to a match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Tatanka was at ringside for the match; he turned on Bigelow and caused him to lose. Bigelow attacked Tatanka after the match, which led to Sid, a new addition to the Corporation, to come to Tatanka's defense.
This led to a tag team match at, where Diesel and Bigelow defeated Tatanka and Sid. (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match. D – indicates the match was aTournament bracket The tournament was held between December 1994 and January 22, 1995. The tournament brackets were:QuarterfinalsSemifinalsFinalsandPin( and )Bam Bam Bigelow and TatankaPinThe Headshrinkers( and )PinandBam Bam Bigelow and Tatanka15:32The 1–2–3 Kid and Bob HollyPin( and )Pin( and )The Heavenly BodiesThe 1–2–3 Kid and Bob HollyPinandPin( and )Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations. 'British Bulldog' Davey Boy Smith was the last wrestler eliminated from the Royal Rumble match.A new entrant came out approximately every minute. DrawEntrantOrderEliminated byTimeEliminations1-Winner38:418229Shawn Michaels38:41439Sione10:00143Shawn Michaels08:13051The British Bulldog01:250610Eli Blu06:50376Shawn Michaels05:30087Kwang04:50098Sione2:290112The British Bulldog0:2301311Shawn MichaelsMabelKing Kong BundyLex LugerShawn MichaelsCrush and Shawn MichaelsLex LugerShawn MichaelsLex LugerCrush and Dick MurdochLex LugerAldo MontoyaHenry O. GodwinnCrushThe British Bulldog08:515References.
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